


Changing (Youthful) Convictions

by Djaeka



Series: Kwami (story) Swapping [6]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, LadyNoir - Freeform, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Pre-Relationship, Telling Stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24027436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Djaeka/pseuds/Djaeka
Summary: Ladybug wants to talk to Chat about revealing his identity and how they move forward professionally from where they are.Maybe accidentally asking him on a date wasn’t the best way to do that.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Kwami (story) Swapping [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1590067
Comments: 22
Kudos: 146





	Changing (Youthful) Convictions

“I still can’t believe you did that.”

“Come on, LB, there was no way I was going to know that you’d remember the shoving-Lila-in-a-punch-bowl thing.”

Ladybug glared as viciously as she could manage. Chat just grinned back at her, completely unfazed by the murder in her eyes.

“Yes. Yes there was. I fell off a chair, Chat. I’ve never laughed so hard in my _life._ You knew _exactly_ what you were doing and you did it anyway.” She kept her gaze on his, staring him down until his smile fell.

Dang it, now she felt guilty about kicking the cat.

He stared down at the city, dangling one foot off the ledge of their building while holding the other tight to his chest. “I really am sorry. I just couldn’t take the imbalance anymore. It was _killing_ me, Bug. If you’re in danger, I should be in just as much. You should never have to shoulder that responsibility by yourself.”

He lifted his head, refusing to meet her eyes.

“Not if we’re really partners.”

Ladybug sighed. Tilting her head back to look at stars instead of lights, she breathed in deeply before responding.

“We are partners. And I get it. I just wanted to do what I could to protect you, too. You don’t always have to be the shield.”

Chat made a noncommittal noise and she rolled her eyes. She was never going to win that fight if she was honest with herself. She huffed a breath out, rising smoothly and stretching her arms out. Chat glanced up at her, eyes wide and brows low. She took in the slope of his shoulders, the slump he’d never get away with in class. 

“Wanna get some food?”

She prayed it was nonchalant, if she even let the thought _Adrien is Chat_ get away from her for a _moment_ it was all over and she’d never get a word out properly again.

His head whipped around, staring at her with wide eyes. To her delight, her statement caused his shoulders to drop from where they’d been hunched, while the cat ears atop his head swiveled forward in her direction.

“What?”

“Do you want to get some food? With me, I mean? This is awkward. All of this is so awkward, Chat. And the only thing I know of to fix awkward is food.”

Disbelief ran across his face as he braced on his palms to stand up. Ladybug squeezed her eyes shut so she wouldn’t have to see it, but the moment she cracked one eye open she breathed a sigh of relief at the smile she found on his face. Genuine at first, and adoring.

And then it turned devious and she braced for impact.

“Why, Ladybug. Are you asking me on a date?”

Oh, she’d thought the grin on his face couldn’t get bigger, she was wrong. Apparently every moment she stood there frozen, face getting redder, was just feeding his ego.

_He’ll probably burst soon._

“No?”

Yeah, it didn’t sound like a real response to her either.

“You know,” he started, leaning in further and she realized far too late he was _way too close to her face._ Ladybug smashed her palm on Chat’s face, absolutely certain she knew what the next sentence would be and completely comfortable with hearing it muffled through her palm.

The “If you wanted a date with me, you just had to ask,” came out muffled by both her palm and Chat trying to stifle his laughter, and _yes,_ it was basically exactly what she expected him to say.

Ladybug groaned, turning to leave. “Yeah, it was just an offer for food, no need to bust out all the flirts and the jokes, I’m gonna go now.”

She twisted around before feeling a hand around her wrist. She looked up to find a smiling Chat facing her once more, the adoring smile back on his face. He looked like he was trying to control his face for a minute or two longer, a slight twitch pulling at the corners of his mouth.

“I’d love to go get some food with you, Ladybug.”

The noises coming from her mouth were mostly high pitched and squeaky. Despite them not really being _words_ , Chat nodded and moved toward the edge of the roof to lead the way.

They avoided speaking to each other directly until well after hopping back on the roof, having obtained food from a very late night crêperie that seemed surprised to be serving superheroes instead of bar patrons.

It’s not that she didn’t _want_ to talk to him.

It’s just that she didn’t know what to _say_ anymore.

Stealing a glance at Chat taking another enormous but tidy bite of his goat cheese and honey crepe, Ladybug tried not to think about the last couple of weeks. But she’d found that without talking to him it was hard to stop thinking about him. In one form or another she had been for years now, and knowing that Chat and Adrien were the same person _did not_ solve that little problem in the least.

She’d come to terms with him knowing her own identity, there had been no way around it. Getting herself knocked out mid-battle had put him in a very difficult situation and she didn’t feel upset about it in the slightest.

Knowing _his_ , though? She’d always known it would cause more problems for her. Her tendency to overthink things didn’t go away just because she put a suit on. She could focus more efficiently, sure, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to over-complicate the situation sometimes.

 _Especially_ when Adrien was involved.

“I am definitely going to eat your crepe too if you don’t actually start eating it.”

She chuckled, holding out her treat for Chat to take a bite. He snorted, taking a small bite of the buckwheat exterior before handing it back.

“Come on, you eat just as much as I do. You have your food, stop being awkward now.”

Ladybug huffed, chomping into the crepe and glaring at Chat for calling her out. He grinned widely before turning his attention back to the city.

“When I was six I ran away from home.” He spoke softly, like he was hoping she wouldn’t hear him. The crepe dropped to her lap.

“Uh uh, you keep eating or I stop talking.”

She made a noise, but lifted the crepe back up to her mouth. She _was_ hungry, after all.

“I wasn’t really allowed out of the house, even back then. My parents being well-known kind of made them a bit paranoid about that kind of thing.” His face fell and Ladybug watched in fascination as his ears drooped simultaneously.

“So I decided I was going to run away. Go to a park. Nothing big. I got to the park and was playing with a group of kids when I saw some older kids bullying a smaller kid.”

Finishing the crepe, Ladybug rolled the paper that had been wrapped around it into a tight ball in her hand. She studied his face, trying to see where this was going, but his mask was up, emotions guarded carefully.

“I got in the way. Told the bigger kid off, and of course I got a fist to the face for it. But man, I gave those other kids _hell_. Pretty sure at least two of them walked away with a black eye. I got in _so_ much trouble when my bodyguard found me and brought me home.”

The ears pinned back into his hair and completely disappeared.

“Lockdown got a lot worse after that. Until I got Plagg, there wasn’t any chance of me getting out of the house without being caught.”

Ladybug took a breath, reaching out for his shoulder. She yanked her hand back when his ears popped back up and he turned in her direction.

“But I don’t regret it. Because that kid _needed_ help. Does that make sense? I _need_ to help people, to protect them, and it feels like that’s my entire purpose. The best way I can help now is to help _you,_ and for that? For that I need to be a shield. So that’s why I told you who I am.”

Chat hung his head, allowing the shaggy mop of hair to cover his eyes.

“Because the best, the _only,_ thing I can do is to be your shield.”

She let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.

“Okay,” she responded shakily, “I get that. Can I tell you a story?”

“Please.”

“Totally not copying you, but I ran away as a kid too.” She grinned when she heard him snort at the declaration.

Ladybug pursed her lips together, pleased to get a happier noise out of him. “Mine isn’t quite as good a reason though, I wanted some ribbons. I’d saved up for weeks to buy a spool of macaron pink and green lace ribbon. They made a special variety in beautiful pastel colors and I desperately wanted the pink and green one.”

“I can’t believe I never realized you were Marinette, you’re completely obvious.”

“Shut up. Story time. So, since I assumed my parents wouldn’t have the time to take me with running the bakery, I just snuck out and went to the shop myself. I got my ribbon and oh man, you should have _seen_ the shade of green they used, it was so smooth and minty-“

“Focus.”

“Yes! Sorry. Anyway, on the way back home, I tripped.”

“As you do.”

Through her glare, she continued. “And when I got home, sobbing and covered in dirt, my mother noticed. But she didn’t punish me. She took me upstairs, cleaned me up, and then explained to me why she was upset.”

Swallowing, she tried to calm her nerves before continuing. Wanting to make her point as clearly as possible.

“She wasn’t mad that I’d gone to the shop. She told me she knew I was more than capable of doing things on my own. But that she was supposed to be there to pick me up if I fell. To make sure that while I _could_ do things on my own, I shouldn’t _have_ to.”

She glanced down at her hands, twisting her fingers into a knot in her lap.

“That I should have communicated because it’s the only way to work together. So you’re right, I should have let you tell me who you were. To allow that channel of communication once you knew who I was. And I need to let you be there to pick me up.” She stared directly into Chat’s eyes, willing her eyes to make him understand.

“But I need you to let me pick you up too. _You’re not the shield._ You’re a partner. And if you’re gone because you carelessly take a hit, who’s going to pick me up? I’ll be alone.”

Ladybug crossed her arms over her chest, and dropped her chin to her chest. She almost jumped when she felt his hand on her shoulder but managed to rein it in.

“I’m sorry.”

She swallowed the thick lump in her throat.

“Yeah, me too.”

“Promise we’ll do better?”

She looked up at him, eyes watery but bright. “Yeah. Promise.”


End file.
